Story #69 - Telephone Systems
/Story #69 reflects the announcement of a new telephone system - and what it says about SSM.
In July of 1989 SSM announced a new telephone system with the following note:
Spotts, Stevens and McCoy, Inc. has always striven to maintain the most modern facilities and equipment to support its personnel in order to offer clients the most efficient and cost-effective services. By maintaining the most up-to-date equipment in the marketplace, all of the firm’s clients are benefitted by improved operations and reasonable costs.
The most recent addition to the facilities at the Main Office is a new, computerized telephone system - the ROLM Computerized Business Exchange (CBX). The system was ordered after considerable study and review, from PTC Corporation, and was installed on November 23rd, 1983. The installation of the ROLM Telephone System adds a wide variety of new features to enhance the communications of employees as they deal with clients using the telephone. Features such as Call Forwarding, Transfer, Automatic Call-Back, Speed Dialing and Conference and Consultation Capabilities are time and cost saving tools which will be utilized.
This is the latest investment of the firm in features that keep Spotts, Stevens and McCoy, Inc. up-to-date in this ever improving technological world.
It was 15 years later, January of 1995 when another announcement came: Voice mail has arrived!
Voice mail’s arrival earned itself a front-page article on our internal newsletter. The article outlines many ways that voice mail will change the game for SSM and our clients - callers can reach their party with fewer rings and they can leave detailed messaged. Other exciting features included: leaving a message for yourself, setting up a phone distribution list, and replying to messages with a push of a button.
Our internal newsletters are riddled with these types of reports. Ones that, at the time, were game-changing. June of 1972, new, intuitive locks were installed. A few months later, we installed an IBM System III - Model 6 computer. In the summer of 1976, the office installed fluorescent lamps - a forward thinking decision intended to save energy and operating costs. November 1978 - change machines in the lunchroom! In 1981, microfilming to conserve file drawer space. The stories continue - stories of SSM taking the initiative, making the leap to newer, bigger, and better things.
Year after year, SSM has navigated game-changing decisions, world-changing events, and life-changing innovations. We’re proud to be an organization that has always been on the side of making the leap, taking the challenge, and doing what we know is best for our people and our clients.
Today, we operate in a hybrid workstyle combining both in-office and remote team members. It’s a concept that would have been foreign to us so many years ago as our new telephone system was put into place. But our digital infrastructure, our company-wide commitment to cutting-edge technology, and our leaderships’ passions for a happy team and happy clients - have all led to our capacity to once again, jump into a game-changing advancement in how we do work at SSM.
In looking at our workplace today, we can’t help but think about those words from 1989: Spotts, Stevens and McCoy, Inc. has always striven to maintain the most modern facilities and equipment to support its personnel in order to offer clients the most efficient and cost-effective services. By maintaining the most up-to-date equipment in the marketplace, all of the firm’s clients are benefitted by improved operations and reasonable costs.
